It’s been a tough few weeks on the weather front, with 138mm of rain falling on this side of the country through the month of September. Ground conditions have turned nasty again very quickly, and youngstock, in particular, are very unsettled and walking on as much grass as they are eating.

We will probably have to house the in-calf heifers soon, so that we can keep the calves out a bit longer into the autumn.

We had intended to sell some of these heifers to reduce pressure before the winter, but with the nitrates derogation hitting trade hard, along with TB restrictions, we will have to hold them longer and the shed will be the best place to do that.

The heifers are well-grown and in good condition, so early housing won’t set them back too much, so we will pull these in to extend the grazing for the calves out into November, if the weather improves.

The calves will hopefully thrive a bit better outside and put a little less pressure on the ground.

Slurry spreading

We did not get much of an opportunity to avail of the first slurry spreading deadline extension, with the rain making ground conditions worse after the deadline than it was before. And considering we are on dry ground in the southeast, I can’t see how many others are faring any better.

It has been extended again I see, but the weather would need to turn very quickly for next week for us to be able to make use of the extension.

These changes in deadlines were brought in to try to improve water quality, so that we could hold on to our nitrates derogation, but we have the ridiculous situation now that a derogation reduction has already been announced for next year – before the earlier closing date has even come into effect.

Derogation

Most farmers are very disillusioned with the entire system that has allowed this to happen at this stage. We have been spending money on increasing slurry storage, improving the spreading equipment, using more protected urea and using much less fertiliser, but the rug has been pulled out from under us before the effect of these measures could even be assessed.

The banding of cows and earlier closing dates are only coming into effect this year, so were we sold a pup when we were told to be good lads and adhere to these measures to hold onto our derogation?

These measures seem very redundant now, with the horse already well bolted.

In some ways, we are pushing a very big rock up a very steep hill in our attempts to improve water quality in this country anyway, with the population of the country increasing from four million to five million over the last 20 years.

All those extra people are putting extra pressure on our underfunded waste-water treatment systems.

Europe, in its wisdom, has put the responsibility for all water quality issues on the shoulders of the 7,000 derogation farmers, or, at least, they are the only group facing restrictions on their business unless water quality tests improve right across the country.

‘Insulting’

If we also bear in mind that Ireland has some of the highest water quality testing standards in Europe, it seems even more insulting that Europe is dictating that we have not done enough in that area.

And, while we can take responsibility for and try to improve water quality issues from agriculture, how we are expected to take responsibility for the failings of Irish Water (Uisce Éireann) as well is beyond my comprehension.